Frazee improves to 4-2 in HOL Conference

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee Hornets improved to 4-4 on the season with a pair of one run wins over Barnesville on Thursday night. The pair of wins came on the heels of a tough 5-2 loss to New York Mills on Tuesday night.

This week the Hornets will travel to Pelican Rapids for a doubleheader on Thursday, before returning home on Monday to host Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal.

Tuesday

New York Mills scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead, but Frazee continued to chip away at the Eagles lead, before ultimately falling by a score of 5-2.

The Hornets got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning when Andrew Aho scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the third inning. Frazee struck again in the top of the fourth inning when Noah Mekalson walked with one out and scored on a Conner Erickson RBI double to make the score 4-2 in favor of NY Mills. Aho followed with a single and would later advance to second place on a passed ball. That left the tying run on second base with just one out in the fourth inning. 

Unfortunately, the final two hitters of the inning went down in order and NY Mills added an insurance run on a two out single to end the game by a score of 5-2. 

Frazee managed just two hits in the game, off the bats of both Aho and Erickson, while the pitching staff put together a solid performance from the mound. Asher Blaine went 5 1/3 innings and gave up five runs, four of which were earned, while also striking out nine hitters, walking four and give up eight hits. Karson Krause closed the door on the Eagles and walked just one hitter and pitched the final 2/3 of an inning.

AB R H     BI

Chandler Ullrich 3 0 0 0

Adam Vigen 2 0 0 0

Asher Blaine 3 0 0 0

Karson Krause 3 0 0 0

Noah Mekalson 2 1 0 0

Conner Erickson 3 0 1 1

Andrew Aho 1 1 1 0

Blake Sonnenberg 3 0 0 0

Dawson Lyman 2 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Conner Erickson

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Asher Blaine 5.1-8-5-4-4-9, Karson Krause 0.2-0-0-0-1-0

Thursday

Frazee got back in the win column in a big way on Thursday night as the Hornets swept a HOL Conference doubleheader against Barnesville on the road.

In the opening game of the night, Frazee used a big three-run first inning that was aided by an error, an RBI single by Blake Sonnenberg and an error by the Trojans third baseman to take a 3-0 lead. 

Frazee added another run in the second inning when Asher Blaine scored on a Karson Krause RBI double to make the score 4-0. 

Barnesville chipped away at the lead, eventually tying the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a three run inning to make the score 4-4. 

The Hornets took the lead for good in the top of the sixth inning when Blaine was hit by a pitch with two outs and Krause reached on an error. Blaine would score later in the inning when Noah Mekalson reached base on an error by the Barnesville shortstop that put the Hornets in front 5-4. 

Barnesville had chances late in the game to tie the score as the Trojans had runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the Frazee defense held to come away with the 5-4 win. 

Blake Sonnenberg led the way offensively with a pair of singles, while Dawson Lyman picked up the win on the mound as he went five innings and gave up six hits, four runs of which three were earned and struck out four batters. Krause pitched the final two innings for the Hornets and didn’t surrender a hit and gave up just one walk in the win.

In the nightcap, the Hornets came away with their second straight one run win, this time by a score of 9-8. Frazee made the most of their five hits in the win as they led to nine runs, including a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game up at 2-2. 

After Barnesville scored a run in the top of the third inning, the Hornets retook the lead with a two-run double by Conner Erickson that brought two runners across the plate, both of whom walked to lead off the inning to give Frazee a 4-3 lead. 

Barnesville took a 7-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning, only to take Frazee tie the game with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Noah Mekalson and a two-run double by Erickson. 

The Hornets took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth inning when Adam Vigen scored on a passed ball and Mekalson hit a sacrifice to bring Blaine across the plate and make the score 9-7 in favor of Frazee.

Barnesville added a run in the top of the seventh inning and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Mekalson shut the door and gave Frazee the win 9-8. 

Erickson had a big day at the plate going 3-3 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs.

Mekalson picked up the win on the mound pitching two scoreless innings in relief, while not giving up a hit and walking three batters. He gave up one unearned run. 

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 2 1 0 0

Asher Blaine 3 3 1 0

Karson Krause 4 0 1 1

Noah Mekalson 4 1 0 1

Conner Erickson 4 0 0 0

Andrew Aho 2 0 1 0

Blake Sonnenberg 3 0 2 1

Dawson Lyman 3 0 0 0

Chandler Ullrich 3 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Karson Krause

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Dawson Lyman 5.0-6-4-3-4-4, Karson Krause 2.0-0-0-0-1-1

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 3 1 0 0

Asher Blaine 2 3 0 0

Karson Krause 1 3 0 0

Noah Mekalson 2 0 1 2

Conner Erickson 3 0 3 4

Andrew Aho 4 0 1 2

Blake Sonnenberg 3 0 0 0

Dawson Lyman 2 0 0 0

Chandler Ullrich 3 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Conner Erickson 2

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Adam Vigen 3.1-4-5-3-3-3, Karson Krause 1.2-4-2-2-0-2, Noah Mekalson 2.0-0-1-0-3-0